Growing Demand for Multisite Software

In our newest Clear Blue Series, we will analyze and discuss the importance of using EAM and CMMS solutions at an enterprise level. This series will stretch from industry drivers to post-implementation tactics for multisite software.

Enterprise-wide (or multisite) asset management software is in growing demand in the Life Sciences industry. Companies and management need to gain a corporate view of their facilities in order to drive efficiencies and to meet the industry demands listed below. Multisite CMMSs and EAMs allow facilities to standardized maintenance and calibration. In addition, multisite software provides a foundation in which companies can improve processes and procedures which will drive down the overall cost of production, labor and other factors.

There are a number of reasons that we decided to focus an entire series on multisite software – many of these appeared in our past series on Going Mobile and Going Paperless. The bottom line, however, is that companies across the Life Sciences industry are experiencing the need to adapt and progress as a result of a changing industry landscape. These industry changes or trends are driving an overarching need that companies (as a whole) and their facilities need to accomplish three key efficiencies in order to remain competitive and in business. These three efficiencies are to 1) increase productivity in a facility, 2) lower production costs and 3) improve GMP compliance.

Here is a recap of the current business landscape in the Life Sciences industry:

Industry Growth – Across industry segments including pharmaceutical, biotech and medical devices, there is a significant amount of growth and investment. A strong representative of industry growth is the increasing amount of R&D spending 1995 to 2013 represented in the PhRMA graph below.Src: http://www.phrma.org/sites/default/files/pdf/2014_PhRMA_PROFILE.pdf

Global Expansion – Another significant industry change is globalization. This is represented by an increasing number of foreign FDA approved drugs represented in the following graph: Src: FDA Website

Mergers and Acquisitions – A third industry trend is consolidations and the need for companies to diversify through mergers and acquisitions. This trend maybe a result of the other trends such as global expansion or industry growth that force companies to be more productive and compliant with lower operating costs. However, no matter the cause of this trend, it provides its own distinct pressures for companies. The following graph from Accenture shows an example of the diversification of several large Life Sciences companiesSrc: http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Accenture_A_Strategy_for_Focused_Growth.pdf

Increasing FDA Activity – The final industry driver is the increasing demand to meet GMP compliance and manufacture quality products as a result of aggressive FDA activity. The FDA has stepped up inspection techniques and levied a larger number of consent decrees and warning letters. Here’s a graph from the FDA website of the number of warning letters given each year which highlights enormous growth from 2011 onward:Src: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/ICECI/Enforcekkk [lmmentActions/UCM346964.pdf

All of these factors boil down to an overall need to make your facilities as efficient as possible in order to remain competitive. Even with consolidation and pressure to reduce costs, there is an increase in investment at facilities.

The reasons tie directly to a company’s manufacturing facilities and their use of an enterprise-wide EAM or CMMS solution. Mostly, going multisite with your EAM solution or selecting an EAM that will be implemented at all of your facilities will provide a clear looking-glass for management to gain perspective and view the performance of each of their facilities on the same basis.

In the next blog, we are going to outline some of the business needs for a multisite EAM / CMMS and the limitations of single facility software. In addition, we will tie the needs for an EAM directly with how they solve the industry drivers presented in this blog.

Click here to view a recorded version of our “Driving Down Enterprise Compliance Costs with EAM” webinar.